Greg Van Eekhout: Pacific Fire

Greg Van Eekhout jatkaa California Bones -fantasiaromaaniaan kymmenen vuotta myöhemmin: Pacific Fire (Tom Doherty Associates, 2015; ISBN 9781429945691).



Teos oli nopealukuinen, ja tarina rullasi jämäkästi eteenpäin, vaikka erityisen omaperäiseksi kertomuksen fantasiaelementtejä ei voikaan sanoa, jossain määrin oli saman toistoa verrattuna kirjasarjan ensimmäiseen osaan.

Jatkoa näyttäisi olevan luvassa, ainakin siinä määrin kesken tuntui kirjan tarina jäävän. Tarkistin asian netistä, ja todellakin, kyseessä on trilogia, jonka kolmas osa on Dragon Coast. Päätösosaa ei kuitenkaan ole lainattavissa Helmetin kautta. Laittaisin se heti varaukseen jos olisi mahdollista.

I'm Sam. I'm just this guy.

Okay, yeah, I'm a golem created from the substance of his own magic by the late Hierarch of Southern California. With a lot of work, I might be able to wield magic myself. I kind of doubt it, though. Not like Daniel Blackland can.

Daniel's the reason the Hierarch's gone and I'm still alive. He's also the reason I've lived my entire life on the run. Ten years of never, ever going back to Los Angeles. Daniel's determined to protect me. To teach me.

But it gets old. I've got nobody but Daniel. I'll never do anything normal. Like attend school. Or date a girl.

Now it's worse. Because things are happening back in LA. Very bad people are building a Pacific firedrake, a kind of ultimate weapon of mass magical destruction. Daniel seemed to think only he could stop them. Now Daniel's been hurt. I managed to get us to the place run by the Emmas. (Many of them. All named Emma. It's a long story.) They seem to be healing him, but he isn't going anyplace soon.

Do I even have a reason for existing, if it isn't to prevent this firedrake from happening? I'm good at escaping from things. Now I've escaped from Daniel and the Emmas, and I'm on my way to LA.

This may be the worst idea I ever had.

Greg Van Eekhout: California Bones

Greg Van Eekhoutin fantasiaromaani on sijoitettu Kaliforniaan, jossa on paljon nykypäivän maailmasta muistuttavaa, mutta toisaalta paljon erilaista, sillä taikuus läpäisee kaiken ilman että siitä pääsee irti: California Bones (Tom Doherty Associates, 2014; ISBN 9781429946858).



Romaani oli kerrassaan hämmentävä, sillä jostain syystä kuvittelin että tarina olisi jotakuinkin tavanomainen seikkailutarina johon olisi vähän mausteeksi lisätty fantasia-aineksia. Päinvastoin, oikeastaan mikään romaanin tapahtumissa ei toimisi ilman taikuuden olemassaoloa, siitä saa suorastaan yliannostuksen.

Toisaalta kirja nappasi mukaansa harvinaisen tiukasti, siinä määrin että lainasin saman tien luettavaksi teoksen jatko-osan, joka sekin oli sähkökirjana saatavissa Helmetin kautta.

When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian.

When Daniel was twelve, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones.

Now, years later, Daniel is a petty thief with a forged identity. Hiding amid the crowds in Los Angeles—the capital of the Kingdom of Southern California—Daniel is trying to go straight. But his crime-boss uncle has a heist he wants Daniel to perform: break into the Hierarch's storehouse of magical artifacts and retrieve Sebastian's sword, an object of untold power.

For this dangerous mission, Daniel will need a team he can rely on, so he brings in his closest friends from his years in the criminal world. There's Moth, who can take a bullet and heal in mere minutes. Jo Alverado, illusionist. The multitalented Cassandra, Daniel's ex. And, new to them all, the enigmatic, knowledgeable Emma, with her British accent and her own grudge against the powers-that-be. The stakes are high, and the stage is set for a showdown that might just break the magic that protects a long-corrupt regime.

Extravagant and yet moving, Greg van Eekhout's California Bones is an epic adventure set in a city of canals and secrets and casual brutality—different from the world we know, yet familiar and true.